Time to deer hunt
LAST EDITED ON Oct-21-14 AT 09:58AM (MST)[p]Again, the moose hunting really sucks in my area. I have only seen a couple of non-shooter bulls and a handfull of cows in weeks of hunting! The Idaho deer hunt opened on Oct 10, so I planned to take the week off from moose hunting and take the kids out for a buck.
I went up to my usual spot that has treated me very well over the years. My wife, daughter, son and myself had tags. I positioned Jenn with our daughter in a saddle just a few hundred yards from my spot, where I sat with Ethan, who was on his first hunt at 12 years old.
Not long after first light I saw a real nice 3-point heading toward us. His path of travel led me to think he would pass by my daughter's position. I waited patiently for the shot. She would be shooting her mother's 30.06 with Remington reduced recoil 130g shells. After 15 or so minutes I heard a shot, but thought it was another hunter stationed on the other side of me, away from Emily. I was disappointed she never got a shot, and wondered where the buck had gone?
Soon a small two point came past us. Ethan declined to even scope him up. Then a big 2-point came along. "Uh...No!" he said, dismissing the opportunity to shoot his first buck. Not long after that, a small bachelor heard of bucks came through. I put up the glass, and only made it to buck number 2, when I said "the second buck is a shooter." Ethan had a dead rest across the tripod/spotter. "I see him", he responded just seconds before they stopped, and he took the shot with the .308. BOOM! The buck turned down away from the other bucks and swayed back and forth as he bounded off over the hill and out of sight. I knew he was hit. "That's a dead deer" I proclaimed. After a short wait, we left our nest and went up to look for the dead deer.
As we approached the area I though he would be in, I looked back and saw my wife and daughter walking toward us. I looked through the glass and saw Jenn giving me the thumbs up, while Emily held her arms out like antlers signifying it was a nice buck. I thought to myself, I know it was nice, and they must have seen him fall. When they got closer, I asked if the saw him fall. Jenn replied "Yes, he fell right where SHE shot him!" She shot", I asked.
"Yes, Emily shot a buck...it's nice!" she clarified. Yep, the shot I heard was her putting the death to the 3-point. Ethan too had a buck. What a great morning. I took the rest of the weekend to relax! I didn't feel the need to get my own deer after having this experience.
Monday was a holiday so I went to look for moose. We saw one spike bull and 3 cows. Where in the hell is a mature bull in my unit???? I don't think there are any!
